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Josh Leivo isn’t going to Team Canada’s world junior camp, but that doesn’t mean the highly regarded left winger is having an off year.

Leivo, a Toronto third-rounder in 2011, is leading the Sudbury Wolves in scoring, despite missing the past two weeks with post-concussion symptoms after going heavily into the glass during a game Nov. 24 against Niagara. That, and an untimely hand injury early in the season, put the odds against him going to the selection camp. But Wolves’ general manager Blaine Smith expects him to recover after another precautionary week of rest and get back on the horse.

“I think the Leafs have quite a prospect,” Smith said. “Many nights he is carrying our offence. We’re having some trouble there (2.8 goals a game), but he and Chad Thibodeau are our only 19-year-old and Josh is playing with a 17-year-old in Dominik Kahun. He doesn’t have Michael Sgarbossa (102 points last year) to work with anymore.”

Leovo has 27 points in 26 games for the Wolves, who are last in the OHL’s Central Division.

“He has a lot more responsibility now, with a letter as assistant captain,” Smith added. “He has to create his own offence. He’s 6-foot-2, but he’s more a skill player than a power forward. His specialty is reacting on the ice. He can stickhandle in a phone booth, as they say.”

LOTS OF FIGHT IN MARLIES

The rumbling has begun that the Marlies might need an enforcer type in their lineup before the year is out.

While the team is finally executing the way coach Dallas Eakins wants — three straight wins and five of the past eight with three close losses — a couple of players have taken a whomping the past few games. Joe Colborne missed time when he took a punch in the eye and Will Acton survived a beating at the hands of Marcus Foligno. Goalie Ben Scrivens took matters into his own hands a few games ago against Hamilton, a team the Marlies often complain run his crease. They play the Bulldogs six more times. It should be noted that hard-rock defenceman Mark Fraser missed a few games since straining a shoulder in a fight a couple of weeks ago.

But as much as Eakins liked having Colton Orr and Jay Rosehill as high-profile deterrents late last season, there are prospects who need the ice time more.

“I don’t think (rock ’em, sock ’em) is specifically our game,” defenceman Paul Ranger said after a rough-house win over Rochester on Saturday. “We are a talented, skilled, hard-working team and when we play that way. not many can compete with us. I think we all know that.”

Players such as Acton and even high-scoring Nazem Kadri often frustrate the opposition by staying hard on forechecking tasks and adding a trash talk element. That creates potential for fireworks and challenges to fight that aspiring NHLers sometimes can’t ignore. In the Rochester game, fourth-liner Greg Scott took top Amerks defenceman Joe Finley out of the game just by dropping the gloves.

“No matter how big the man or how strong, we won’t back down,” Eakins said. “We saw that from Greg. Our guys have no fear. I know Will has scraped and clawed for everything he’s ever got in hockey. He won’t back down, either. A guy like Naz, when they’re getting involved verbally, they’re going pretty good.”

The Marlies are slowly introducing Brad Ross to the lineup, a rookie winger with a bit of vintage Darcy Tucker in him.

KIDS IN LINE OF FIRE

Jim Hughes, the Leafs’ director of player development, was concerned to hear that coaches Mike Stapleton and Robbie Ftorek both lost their OHL jobs with Sault Ste Marie and Erie respectively in the past few days.

“We have two young players in David Broll (Soo) and Connor Brown (Erie) who had very strong relationships with those coaches,” Hughes said. “Brown was a captain and Broll was an alternate. They would have been in a lot of meetings together.

“It will be interesting to see how our guys deal with seeing something like this for the first time. I’m sure it won’t be the last for them. Now they have to adapt to new situations. This experience might help them.”

ICE CHIPS

The coaching staff of Sodertalje of the Swedish second division were incensed that Leafs pick Viktor Loov was given a two-game suspension for an unpenalized shoulder check on Daniel Karlsson a few days ago. Loov is a solid 6-foot-1 defenceman the Leafs took a chance on with their last pick in June ... The Leafs were ecstatic to place defenceman Tommy Nilsson on the Swedish world junior team. “That is one hard team to make,” Hughes praised. “He’s on the right track.” ... Freshman centre Tony Cameranesi is up to 14 points in 15 games for the University of Minnesota-Duluth, with a weekend goal against Michigan Tech. He has four on the power play ... Sam Carrick has four goals and six points in 14 games for the Boise-based Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. Carrick, a fifth rounder of the Leafs in 2010, is also a plus-four.

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Leafs' Leivo 'quite a prospect'

Josh Leivo isn’t going to Team Canada’s world junior camp, but that doesn’t mean the highly regarded left winger is having an off year.

Leivo, a Toronto third-rounder in 2011, is leading the Sudbury Wolves in scoring, despite missing the past two weeks with post-concussion symptoms after going heavily into the glass during a game Nov. 24 against Niagara. That, and an untimely hand early in the season, put the odds against him going to the selection camp. But Wolves’ general manager Blaine Smith expects him to recover after another precautionary week of rest and get back on the horse.

“I think the Leafs have quite a prospect,” Smith said. “Many nights he is carrying our offence. We’re having some trouble there (2.8 goals a game), but he and Chad Thibodeau are our only 19-year-old and Josh is playing with a 17-year-old in Dominik Kahun. He doesn’t have Michael Sgarbossa (102 points last year) to work with anymore.”